The first thing Aria noticed was the smell.
Fuel.
It burned the back of her throat before she even opened her eyes.
Her lungs tried to take in a deeper breath and pain exploded through her chest, sharp enough that her body jerked involuntarily. The movement sent another wave of agony through her shoulder, and a strangled sound escaped her before she could stop it.
Her eyes fluttered open.
The sky above her was wrong.
It tilted between jagged pieces of torn metal and splintered trees. Smoke drifted upward through the cold mountain air, thin and grey and constant.
Her ears rang.
A high, piercing tone that swallowed every other sound.
For a few seconds she didn't move.
She couldn't.
Her mind lagged behind reality, trying to catch up with the chaos her senses were feeding it.
The ground beneath her felt uneven. Something cold pressed against her back. Her vision refused to focus, the world swimming in distorted shapes and color.
Then something inside her snapped back into place.
Memory returned all at once.
The violent turbulence.
The scream of twisting metal.
The sudden drop.
Impact.
Aria tried to push herself up.
Pain tore through her ribs so violently she gasped and dropped back again, her arm instinctively folding tight against her body. Her shoulder throbbed with a deep, sickening pulse that made her stomach turn.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, forcing herself to breathe slowly through the pain.
When she inhaled again, the smell of fuel was stronger.
Smoke curled somewhere nearby.
The ringing in her ears began to fade, slowly giving way to the distant sounds of chaos.
Someone shouting.
Metal shifting.
A voice crying out in pain.
Aria forced her eyes open again.
Her vision steadied just enough for her to understand what she was looking at.
The plane.
Or what was left of it.
Debris littered the forest floor around her — twisted sections of fuselage, shattered seats, pieces of luggage scattered like debris after a storm. The trees nearby were broken and splintered where the aircraft had torn through them.
Her pulse began to race.
The plane had gone down.
The realization slammed into her chest harder than the pain in her ribs.
She pushed herself onto one elbow despite the protest from her shoulder.
That was when Meredith came into view.
"Aria!"
Meredith was moving toward her quickly, stumbling over debris in her rush. Her face was pale beneath the dirt and ash streaked across her skin.
She dropped to her knees beside her sister.
"Hey. Hey—look at me."
Aria blinked, focusing on Meredith's face as the last of the dizziness faded.
YOU ARE READING
Shooting Stars
Fanfiction"But he's Evil Spawn." "Don't you think I know that. I didn't wake up one day and suddenly decide I was going to be in love with Alex Karev." Being the daughter of a world renowned surgeon was never destined to be easy. The first born of the Grey tw...
